Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge

Background

The Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge stands among the eight Chengyang villages in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Liuzhou, Guangxi, spanning the Linxi River. It is about 64.4 metres long (another figure gives about 77.8 metres), with a corridor about 3.4 metres wide, and rises about 10 metres; the wooden structure sits on stone piers and is joined with mortise and tenon, without nails or rivets. On top are five tower-like pavilions and nineteen corridor bays with layered, upturned eaves, and benches line both sides of the corridor, where you can lean on the rail and look out over the river, tea hills, fields and waterwheels. Wind and rain bridges are the covered bridges of Dong villages: the roof shelters people from wind and rain, and the bridge is also where villagers rest and gather. Construction of the Chengyang bridge began in 1912; accounts of its completion differ, giving 1912, 1916 or 1924. It was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 1982. The writer Guo Moruo wrote a poem for the bridge. Each of the eight nearby Dong villages, including Ma'an, Pingzhai, Yanzhai, Dazhai and Pingpu, has its own drum tower, and Dong song and dance performances are often held in front of the Ma'an drum tower.

Local customs

• Walk the bridge from end to end, looking at the pavilion eaves and the corridor, and sit on a bench to watch the Linxi River and the tea hills
• visit the nearby Dong villages to see the drum towers, opera stages and wooden houses, and watch a Dong song and dance performance
• then wander the paths through the fields past waterwheels and rice paddies, and try rice noodles and sour fish.

Travel tips

• The eight Chengyang villages are spread out, so allow half a day to a full day at a relaxed pace
• check the official information for admission and performance prices, and note that photographing performances at some drum towers may cost extra. The bridge deck is wooden planks and is slippery when wet, so wear non-slip shoes
• the paths between villages go up and down, so carry drinking water. There are guesthouses by the bridge and on the hillside.
• Chengyang is north of Sanjiang county town
• take the bus from the county town towards Chengyang and get off at Chengyang, and the villages are within walking distance of one another. Sanjiang can be reached by road from Guilin or Liuzhou. You can visit all year round
• spring and autumn are pleasant and summer is rainy. The countryside looks its best when the rapeseed is in flower and the rice is ripening.